Buried Treasure
by HecateA
Summary: The moral of this story is not to trust small children with immensely powerful magical artefacts—at least not while they're in the midst of their pirate phase. Written for Romance Awareness Day 6: Everyone has a compass that points/leads to their soulmate. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy! Written for the 31 Days of Soulmate!AU Day 6: Everyone has a compass that points/leads to their soulmate.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **NA

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Hogwarts; Harmony of Souls Eternal

**Bonus challenge(s): **Hola, Jambo, Bonjour; Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Seeds; Times to Come; Old Shoes; Brush; Summer Vacation; Tiny Terror; Unaccompanied Minors; Trope It Up A (Best Friends to Partners); Themes and Things A (Love); Themes and Things B (Innocence); True Colours; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Representation(s): **Compass soulmate AU.

**Bonus challenge(s): **Caprice

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **NA

**Word count: **2543

* * *

**Buried Treasure**

Maman looked a little bit sad as they waved goodbye to Tatie Gabrielle as she walked down the beach and to the spot where the Portkey would take her back to Marseilles.

"Maman," Victoire said, tugging on her mother's skirt. Maman had baby Dominique in her arm and the new baby growing in her belly, but she looked down at Victoire and smiled as if she was the only person in the whole wide world.

"What is it, beautiful?" she asked, tugging on one of Victoire's braids.

"Are you sad when Tatie goes back to France?"

"A little bit," Maman said. "But not too much, because I know she'll come back. And we're going to visit Grandmère and Granpère so soon—isn't that exciting?"

Victoire nodded and she chewed on her braid until Maman gently tugged it out of her mouth.

"If you miss France why did you come to England?" Victoire asked.

"Your father and I talked about it a lot," Maman said. "But I knew when I was very young that I was meant to leave. I was just following my compass. Here, come see…"

She shepherded Victoire back inside and led her up the stairs. Maman let Victoire kiss her little sister's forehead goodnight and then put Dominique down for a nap, and then they went into Maman and Papa's bedroom.

"_Allez, housse," _Maman said, picking up Victoire and plopping her down on the bed. She mumbled to herself as she crouched down to find a box hidden under the bed, and took out a small golden disk. She sat down on the bed next to Victoire and clicked the top of it. The disk opened up, revealing a piece of glass with letters and a tiny needle underneath it.

"Have you seen one of these before?" Maman asked. "I think so; when we go out on the boat…"

"Yeah," Victoire nodded. "Papa says you use them to find the shore."

"This is true," Maman said, sitting down next to Victoire. "Compasses usually point North, but not this one. Instead it helps the women in our family find their soulmates—people we can spend our entire lives with, happily and safely and lovingly. And so when I was old enough, I followed this compass all the way to England and met your Papa. And it's a lucky thing for you that I did, now isn't it?"

She blew a kiss on Victoire's cheek which tickled and made her laugh. Maman smiled and passed the compass over to her. It felt much bigger in her hands, the metal cold under her fingers.

"Where am I going to go, Maman?" Victoire looked up and asked.

"I have no idea," Maman said. "But why don't you hold on, to this? I don't need it anymore, I have everything that I need. It's yours now. Make sure to keep it safe because if you lose it, we can't get another one, okay?"

"Okay," Victoire said. "I'll find the safest place in the world."

"That's right," Maman nodded. "How about on your bedside table? And then, when you're a little bit older, maybe the needle will start spinning."

* * *

Naturally, she showed Teddy the compass as soon as she possibly could. When Uncle Harry came to have coffee with Maman, Victoire grabbed Teddy's hand and dragged him upstairs. This was by far the coolest treasure either of them had ever seen, and there was absolutely no time to waste.

"It's so shiny," he said. He looked at it for a few seconds longer and then his hair became the same golden, coppery colour as the compass. Victoire laughed and patted at his hair.

"What are you going to do with it?" Teddy asked.

"Maman said to keep it safe, but I don't know how," Victoire said. "I've never had treasure before."

"Never have I," Teddy said. He cocked his head to the side. "All I know is that pirates have treasure all the time."

"Mmm-hmm," she said pensively. "And they bury it in the sand."

"Yeah!" Teddy said. "Yeah, let's do that."

"Yeah!" Victoire agreed.

* * *

Teddy ripped open the packaging of another Chocolate Cauldron Cake and passed it over to her. She took it and took a bite, wiping away at her eyes.

"I just wish he'd broken up with me before sleeping with someone else," Victoire said. "Is that so much to ask for?"

"That's literally the least you could ask for," Teddy said. "The absolute lowest bar any man has ever been asked to meet, and yet… I'm sorry, Victo."

"You don't have to apologize," she said, taking another bite and chewing.

"I feel like I have to, on behalf of all men," Teddy said.

She forced a smile at that for him. Somehow, the overly sweet icing of her favourite sweets wasn't lifting her mood. Still, she was glad that Teddy had come when he'd gotten her letter.

"I never liked that guy," Teddy said.

"Don't remind me," Victoire said. "I wish I'd listened to you, you always seem to point me in the right..."

Then she remembered something.

"Hey," Victoire said. "Do you remember that… wow, this was a long time ago… Do you remember when we had that pirate phase, when we were little?"

"That's wasn't a phase, that was a lifestyle," Teddy said. Victoire giggled.

"Remember how we buried treasure all over the place?"

"Until we buried your dad's wand and got into some crazy trouble," Teddy nodded. "Yup, I remember that. Vividly."

"There was something else that we'd buried—a compass," Victoire said.

"Oh yeah," Teddy said. "It was so shiny."

"Yeah," Victoire mused. "My mum told me that it was supposed to point all Delacour women to their soulmates."

Teddy arched one of his startling raspberry blue eyebrows. He seemed skeptical. "Really?"

"It's a family heirloom," Victoire shrugged. "I mean… someone would have thrown it out if it didn't work, right? You've _met _the women of my family."

"I suppose so," Teddy said.

"My mother followed it all the way to England," Victoire said.

"Lucky for me," Teddy said. He gave her a crooked smile, which showed off a tooth he'd chipped when they'd been four. Teddy usually morphed it away since he was so weirdly self-conscious about it, but sometimes when he was comfortable and distracted the magic dropped and the chip showed.

"Yeah, lucky for you," Victoire said. "Do you think we could dig it up?"

"I don't think that I remember where we buried it, exactly," Teddy said. He chewed his lip. "Still, it shouldn't be too hard to find… it would be on the property, we knew not to wander too far. And somewhere sandy, but still relatively hidden away because… well, that's probably what six year olds trying to think like pirates would strive for."

"Yeah," Victoire said. "Let's go find that compass!"

"Would you really..? Nevermind," Teddy said.

"No, tell me," Victoire said, stretching out her leg to kick him. He kicked back.

"Would you really trust an object—no matter how old or how powerful—to tell you who your soulmate was?" Teddy asked her. "My godfather always says that believing in prophecies and fate is a dangerous thing."

"I don't know," Victoire shrugged. "But I ate all the Cauldron Cakes you brought and I don't want to cry about stupid boys anymore, so this seems like a pretty good alternative."

"You know what: that's fair," Teddy said, getting up. He put his hands on his hips. "Nothing like a good swashbuckling adventure to distract. Shovels should be in the garden shed, right?"

* * *

"Alright, First Mate Victoire…" Teddy said.

"First Mate?" she scoffed. "That's _Captain _to you."

"There's no way you're the captain," Teddy said.

"Why is that?"

"Because I have the bigger shovel, and _I _found the buried treasure," Teddy said.

They were standing on the beach, which they'd spent hours wandering on and digging up. Eventually, Teddy had pointed out how the sun shining across the weather vane on top of the boathouse created an 'X' like shape on the ground, and suggested that they dig there. After all, X marked the spot for all great treasures… And sure enough, they'd found it—wrapped in an old beach towel only about a foot underground, which must have taken them ages to dig up when they were little. They must have thought that their hiding spot was so clever.

"Fine," Victoire said. "That was pretty impressive. I'll give you that."

"Thank you," Teddy said with a bow. "In exchange, you can do the honours of unwrapping the booty."

Victoire nodded and sat down in the sand, cross-legged. Teddy sat down in front of her, and she unwrapped the bundle between the two of them. They laughed as they went over each object they'd seen fit for burial. There were pirate swords made out of driftwood and string, clothespins they must've stolen off the washing line, a feather that must have seemed particularly impressive at the time, pieces of sea glass, sweets they had most likely been saving for a special occasion, what Victoire remembered had been the prettiest seashell they'd found that summer…

"Oh, Merlin," Teddy said, dusting sand off of a bracelet. He went white as a ghost. "I totally took this from my grandmother."

"Teddy!" Victoire laughed.

"Oh no, it's all coming back to me… oh Merlin, she can never know this is where it ended up. She's going to kill me…"

"You can defend yourself with this," Victoire said, handing him a broken wine glass that Maman must have tried to throw away. Teddy laughed some more.

And there was the compass, too. Not quite as shiny as she remembered it, though—Victoire dusted it off and used the edge of her tank top to wash it off.

"I can't believe we just put that in a hole in the ground, it looks so important," Teddy said.

"Because it's treasure. Duh," Victoire said. "Some captain, you are."

Teddy laughed again and Victoire flicked the compass open. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but the needle didn't all of a sudden dramatically spin North, South, East, and West before settling in a direction. It didn't move at all actually, not even when she spun it around in her hand or pointed it North.

"Come on," Victoire said, getting up and dusting the sand off her shorts. "Let's go explore…"

* * *

They walked up and down the shoreline for a few hours, chatting and waddling into the waves and occasionally glimpsing at the compass in Victoire's hand. Still; the needle didn't move. Teddy looked at the still compass before looking back at Victoire, chewing his lip.

"Let's go home," she confirmed, nodding her okay.

"I'm sorry it didn't work," Teddy said.

"I suppose magical heirlooms probably shouldn't be abandoned under piles of sand for ten years and expected to function perfectly," Victoire said. "Still, it accomplished its secondary task as a distraction. Although I'm not going to lie; you did a way better job at that."

She slipped the compass in her back pocket and they made their way back to Shell Cottage slowly and idly. When they got within range, Papa opened up the door and stuck his head out.

"Teddy," he called. "I'm about to start dinner. Are you staying?"

"Ummm…. Yeah!" Teddy called back. He turned back to Victoire. "Grandma won't worry, right?"

"Why would she?" Victoire asked, eyebrow arched. "You basically _live _here."

Teddy pushed her into the waves and she managed to grab onto his arm and drag him down with her.

* * *

During dinner, Victoire couldn't help but keep the compass out on the table next to her glass.

"You are looking for someone?" Maman asked when Victoire came to help with the dishes.

"If they're out there," Victoire shrugged.

* * *

As it often was the case, Teddy showed up early in the day, stayed a while, ate some food, stayed a while longer, and eventually it was decided that he should just spend the night. This was particularly exciting for Louis, who really wanted to show Teddy how they'd been sleeping under the stars recently. They dug up a spare sleeping bag for him and dragged it outside to join their regular encampment—a tarp covered in blankets not too far from the fire pit, regulated and controlled by a few magical enchantments. They roasted marshmallows and sausages and played cards for a few hours before her two younger siblings fell asleep, leaving the two of them alone in their sleeping bags and staring up at the sky.

"Victo," Teddy said quietly after a while.

"Hmm?"

"If you don't stop obsessing over that thing, I'm going to bury it again," Teddy warned her. "And this time, I won't say where or leave an X."

She shut the compass and slipped it into her pillowcase.

"I'm just… I'm curious, Teddy. That's normal, isn't it?"

"I suppose so," Teddy said. "But I don't think you should be spending this much time on it. Say that that needle does start spinning and show you where your soulmate is. What if they're West, but they're all the way in America? What if you're just not destined to meet them yet, so it doesn't really matter?"

"I get it, I get it," Victoire grumbled.

"I'm not saying it'll never work," Teddy said. "I'm just saying… look at the stars with me instead. For now."

"I can do that," Victoire said. She wiggled closer to him so that they'd have the same line of sight as they stared into the sky.

* * *

They had already scarfed down a few piles of pancakes each when Andromeda Tonks' eagle Patronus flew in through the open kitchen window and perched itself on the sink before formally requesting that her grandson meet her at The Leaky Cauldron at 11:00, or come home before then.

"I think she wanted to go back-to-school shopping today," Teddy said.

"Gross," Victoire said.

"Tell me about it," Teddy said.

"Well, it was nice having you, as always," Maman said from the oven where she was now making Louis and Dominique breakfast. "Do not be a stranger, Teddy."

"Never am, Mrs Delacour," he said. "Thanks for feeding me."

"Are you okay to Apparate on your own, or do you want to use the Floo?" Maman asked.

"I'll just go straight to Diagon Alley, yeah," Teddy said.

"Show-off," Victoire grumbled.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Oh, before I go…"

He reached into his pocket and produced the compass.

"You _had _this?" Victoire asked. "Merlin, Teddy, when did you take this?"

"I was trying to keep you from obsessing over it," Teddy said. "And it worked. You're welcome."

"You're welcome," she said in her worst imitation of his voice. He tossed it to her and she caught it, waving goodbye to him as he walked out the door.

She popped it open once the door closed behind him, propping her legs up on the chair he'd been occupying.

And for the first time, the compass needle was whizzing around wildly.

"Teddy, it's doing it!" Victoire cried, bouncing to her feet and rushing to the door. She burst outside, but he'd already disapparated.

She looked down to the compass, whose needle had finally settled to point Northwest, towards London.


End file.
